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Experiment 1 materials
Experiment 2 materials
Homepage of supplemental information for Glenberg & Robertson
supplemental paper describing additional experiments.
*tasaAll is the LSA rating for the critical sentence and the context paragraph.
*Sensibility and Grammaticality refer to the corresponding rating that the subjects gave each stimuli.
1. Ray wanted to play a prank on his friend. He remembered that his friend had a lot of trees in his front yard, and went to the store to buy a lot of toilet paper. He waited until midnight, when he knew his friend would be asleep, and brought the toilet paper to his friend's house. Ray toilet papered the front yard.
.37(TasaAll )
6.24(Sensibility)
5.07(Grammaticality)
2. Kenny sat in the tree house and patiently waited. He clutched the jar of green ooze in his hand, and watched the approaching school bus move closer to his house. The teenage girl stepped off and walked towards the tree house unaware of the little boy above her taking the cap off the jar. Kenny waited until she was directly beneath him, and an evil grin spread across his face. Then, Kenny slimed his sister.
.21(TasaAll )
5.23(Sensibility)
5.38(Grammaticality)
3. Jon was sitting in his room, listening to the radio, when his favorite song came on. Instinctively, he looked around for his drum, but then he remembered that he left it in the garage at band practice. So, Jon just turned a garbage pail upside down. He drummed the garbage pail.
.43TasaAll )
5.48(Sensibility)
5.10(Grammaticality)
4. Benny was really excited about an upcoming drag race with his friend Art. It was too dangerous to race side-by-side on the streets, however, and they didn't live near a track. How could they determine the winner? Benny remembered his father's stopwatch. Benny and Art raced in turn. A neutral observer clocked the dragsters.
.07(TasaAll )
6.36(Sensibility)
6.17(Grammaticality)
5. Alex was attempting to assemble a bookshelf, and was having a rough go at it. He was not blessed with a great deal of mechanical aptitude or spatial reasoning skills, and tools in his hands were about as useful as a set of flippers. Still, Alex had thought that even he would be able put together this silly bookshelf: after all, it was just a bunch of boards that needed to be screwed together. The problem was that the wood was rather hard and the holes were not pre-drilled. After a futile half-hour, Alex realized that he had more blisters on his hand than screws in the bookshelf. Suddenly, in a burst of inspiration, he remembered a trick that his dad, a weekend handyman, had taught him, and ran to the bathroom to get a bar of Ivory. Alex soaped the screws, and he was immensely pleased to find the screws now entered the wood like hot knives into butter.
.26(TasaAll )
5.90(Sensibility)
5.31(Grammaticality)
6. Judy was finally taking the vacation of her dreams in Hawaii. She had been there for two weeks and was about to leave. Judy was so caught up in all of the fun she was having that she had completely forgotten about friends back home. She remembered them while packing on her last day. With credit card in hand, she ran down to the local shop and bought a lot of knickknacks. When she got home she gifted all of her friends.
.62(TasaAll )
4.10(Sensibility)
4.29(Grammaticality)
7a. The morning sun shined into the room, spilling harshly onto Jim's eyes as he tried to sleep. He tried to pull the shade down, only to remember that it has fallen down the day before. However, its hooks were still attached, so Jim looked around until he found his big winter jacket on the floor. Jim jacketed the window.
.59(TasaAll )
3.90(Sensibility)
4.05(Grammaticality)
7b. With the sunshine spilling through the window, Jim could see it was a nice day. He found his shades on the floor next to the window and put them on to cover his eyes from the harsh sun before leaving to go to the park. He then found his jacket and began to lock up the house. Jim jacketed the window.
.54(TasaAll )
2.38(Sensibility)
4.19(Grammaticality)
8a. Tracey finally decided it was time to do her laundry: the pile of dirty clothes had begun to take up too much room. Short of a laundry basket, she wondered what she would put all her laundry in. Then she noticed her dirty sheet and spread it out on the floor. She sheeted her laundry.
.69(TasaAll )
3.19(Sensibility)
3.90(Grammaticality)
8b. Tracey was taking her clothes and sheets out of the dryer and putting them in her laundry basket. While folding her sheet, she realized it was wet. All of her laundry was still damp. Annoyed, she ran upstairs to get more change. She sheeted her laundry.
.74(TasaAll )
2.10(Sensibility)
3.95(Grammaticality)
9a. Lori loved her new table, until she noticed that everything she placed on it slid off to the left. The left back leg was lower than all the others. She could not imagine how to fix the slant. Then she spotted a pile of hard covered books in the corner. She booked the leg.
.61(TasaAll )
3.29(Sensibility)
4.10(Grammaticality)
9b. Lori was having a really bad day. She could not find her textbook and she was late for class. Frantically, she ran over to the table where there was a pile of books. On the way, she banged her leg on the chair. She booked the leg.
.62(TasaAll )
2.00(Sensibility)
4.29(Grammaticality)
10a. Jeff shifted around restlessly in his plane seat. He just couldn't get comfortable and his head kept banging against the window. Then Jeff spotted his puffy jacket rolled up under the seat in from of him. He pillowed the jacket.
.47(TasaAll )
4.14(Sensibility)
4.48(Grammaticality)
10b. Jeff did not want to wear his big puffy jacket because it was uncomfortable and made him look stupid. Feeling too guilty to just throw it away, he intentionally left in on the back of his seat one day after class. He pillowed the jacket.
.44(TasaAll )
2.38(Sensibility)
4.14(Grammaticality)
11a. Nigel awoke when his dog began barking and licking his face. The dog was visibly agitated. Nigel thought he could smell something burning. He quickly turned on his light, and saw smoke pouring into the room from a crack under the door. He grabbed a damp towel that was laying on the floor. Nigel toweled the crack and began to breathe more easily.
.15(TasaAll )
4.52(Sensibility)
4.57(Grammaticality)
11b. Nigel awoke when his dog began barking and licking his face. He cracked a smile at this pleasant, if somewhat sloppy, wake-up. This smile turned to a frown, however, and Nigel became agitated as he smelled something burning. Running into the kitchen with a damp towel, he saw the toaster emitting smoke. The old and cracked coffee mug on the counter indicated the culprit: Nigels wife had made a hasty exit, and forgotten her toast. Nigel toweled the crack and began to breathe more easily.
.14(TasaAll )
2.76(Sensibility)
3.67(Grammaticality)
12a. Belle worked at a coffee shop. The shop was trying to expand its menu beyond espresso drinks and pastries, and had recently begun serving soup. A new sign hanging behind the counter promised Good Soup. Unfortunately, whoever had put up the sign did a very poor job, and it was always falling down, making quite a mess. One morning, when business was slow, Belle decided to fix this problem. She realized that the nails which held up the sign were driven in at a downward angle, which was causing the sign to constantly slip down. She figured that all she needed to do was remove the nails and pound them back in so they were pointing upward. She couldnt find a hammer, though, and searched around for a suitable pounding device. She picked up a stout pilsner glass with a thick, flat base. Then, Belle carefully glassed the nails.
.28(TasaAll )
3.62(Sensibility)
4.00(Grammaticality)
12b. Belle worked at a coffee shop, where she was constantly washing glasses and working with finely-ground coffee. Between the espresso underneath her fingernails and the damage done by lengthy immersion in soapy water, her hands were quite a mess. Belle was somewhat hung-up about the ragged state of her hands: her mother had always told her that properly maintaining ones nails was a sign of a good soul. So, on her day off, she decided to treat herself to a manicure. She had never been to a manicurist before, but she knew of several in the area. She decided she would just walk around, carefully look at signs, and see which place looked the most promising. So, Belle put on her glasses--she was near-sighted, and needed the glasses to read signs--and set out in search of a manicure. Then, Belle carefully glassed the nails.
.28(TasaAll )
2.10(Sensibility)
4.10(Grammaticality)
13a. Rebecca worked in a furniture store where she created room displays to show the furniture. She would always start by matching the furniture to the carpet. Then she would bring in a few pictures and plants, but not many, so as not to distract people from the furniture. Next she would pick out various accessories, such as pillows, to add some style. Finally, Rebecca lamped the room.
.36(TasaAll )
3.00(Sensibility)
4.00(Grammaticality)
13b. Rebecca sat on a pillow in an empty room next to a window. There was no furniture, pictures or plants, just a soft carpet. Rebecca liked to study here, where there were no distractions. She would begin early in the day and study for a few hours. Then she would have some breakfast, think about her clothes, accessories, and her friends. Finally, Rebecca lamped the room.
.37(TasaAll )
2.29(Sensibility)
4.24(Grammaticality)
14a. Casey was having a great spring break in the Caribbean. He couldn't resist flaunting his luck to all of his friends back in snowy Wisconsin who were hanging out in the library instead of a colonial paradise. So, he bought some beer and a pen, and took them to the beach. He postcarded his friends all day.
.45(TasaAll )
4.05(Sensibility)
3.43(Grammaticality)
14b. Casey had to write a report on colonialism in the Caribbean during spring break. He wished he could be sharing a beer with his friends instead. Casey flaunted the snowy Wisconsin weather, bought a pen, and examined some of the colonial stamps (many showing beaches) at the library. He postcarded his friends all day.
.39(TasaAll )
3.10(Sensibility)
4.00(Grammaticality)
15a. Tina was looking in the mirror at the bump on her head. What she saw made her cry. Tina had made her cat mad, and had ended up chasing her down the road. She had dodged a car whose headlights almost blinded her, and that's when she fell and hit her head on a rock. Tina couldn't believe she had carred the cat.
.32(TasaAll )
4.19(Sensibility)
4.29(Grammaticality)
15b. Tina was driving down a dark road when she felt a bump under her left front tire. Looking in the rearview mirror, she couldn't see anything in the road, but decided to turn the car around and shine her headlights in that direction. Tina expected to find a rock, but what she saw made her cry. Tina couldn't believe she had carred the cat.
.52(TasaAll )
1.76(Sensibility)
3.67(Grammaticality)
16a. Marca was sipping her bottled coke and sulking about how much she missed tap dancing. She had lost her tap shoes last month and only had normal, silent, dancing shoes, which were not as much fun. As she bounced the bottle cap on the table, the clanging sound gave her an idea. Marca bottle capped the soles of her shoes.
.65(TasaAll )
4.81(Sensibility)
4.76(Grammaticality)
16b. Marca had just finished tap dancing and she was hot and thirsty. She took off her tap shoes, grabbed a bottle of coke from the fridge, and unscrewed the bottle cap. Unfortunately, the soda was flat and Marca couldn't recap the bottle. Marca bottle capped the soles of her shoes.
.66(TasaAll )
1.62(Sensibility)
4.00(Grammaticality)
17a. Leroy was having a cocktail party in his small apartment. He did not entertain often, because he was quite fastidious about keeping the heirloom furniture he had inherited in mint condition. He became quite distressed when he ran out of coasters and his guests began putting their moist drinks directly on top of his great aunts heretofore unblemished hope chest. Leroy frantically searched his apartment for something he could use to protect his furniture. The first things he came across were a bunch of old floppy disks. While the data on them was no longer of any use, Leroy saw that they could still serve a function. He disked all of his guests glasses.
.46(TasaAll )
4.19(Sensibility)
4.38(Grammaticality)
17b. Leroy lived alone in his small apartment, with the exception of his cockatiel. He did not entertain often, because he was quite shy and his cockatiel was somewhat demented. Despite Leroys diligent efforts at teaching the cockatiel to say normal things like Hello and Cracker, it continually rambled in a bizarre fashion about flying disks and moist heirloom furniture. Leroy became quite distressed when his friends invited themselves over for a cocktail party one night, because he was afraid that his weird bird would embarrass him. The guests arrived, and he served them drinks. He disked all of his guests glasses.
.45(TasaAll )
2.14(Sensibility)
4.38(Grammaticality)
18a. Sebastian was perusing the latest issue of Newsweek when he was disturbed by a most annoying buzzing noise. He looked around the room to determine the source of this disturbance, and saw that a fly was patrolling the vicinity. Its incessant buzzing was making Sebastian insane. He had no choice but to terminate with extreme prejudice. So, he rolled up his Newsweek and waited patiently. When the fly came to rest on the coffee table in front of Sebastian, he recognized his opportunity. He magazined it.
.45(TasaAll )
4.48(Sensibility)
4.24(Grammaticality)
18b. Sebastian was perusing the latest issue of Newsweek. He became disturbed as he read an article about rising rates of home invasions in his vicinity. Sebastian decided to follow the advice of a security expert quoted in the magazine by purchasing a home security alarm. The salesman at the electronics store thought Sebastian was insane when he insisted on having the alarm installed that very day, but agreed when Sebastian threatened to terminate the sale. The alarm woke Sebastian when it began buzzing one evening. He recognized his opportunity. He magazined it.
.42(TasaAll )
1.48(Sensibility)
3.24(Grammaticality)